2 Years of SGM (plus lots of insights and Q&A with readers)

I’m pretty sure Michael The Situation Sorrentino from the “reality” show Jersey Shore is sitting in the seat in front of me. Or it could just be his Doppelganger.

I’m writing this to you on a plane departing from New York to Stockholm, while listening to the song Molly by Le Matos (you can listen to it here).

The woman sitting next to me (now sleeping) is a marketing consultant who specializes in social media marketing. She just invited me to come to NYC.

During my previous transit, from Boston, two funny things happened.

First, I saw Mitt Romney.

He was walking with a well-dressed blonde woman by baggage claim. Then he went into the restroom, took a piss, and didn’t wash his hands (according to an acquaintance of mine who was in there).

Second, when I had a few hours to kill while waiting for my plane, I sat down to read. This is a smart habit. You should always carry a book and a pen with you so that you don’t miss out on learning.

After I’d read for a while I lost concentration and stopped. I then went into a book store and looked through their History, Biographies, Business, and Classics sections.

I spent the next 2 hours skimming 100+ books — that I narrowed down to 36 interesting books. Then I bought the 10 most important ones. I would’ve bought them all, but I wouldn’t have been able to bring them with me on the plane. I’m a frugal person. But not when it comes to books and learning.

So I asked the book store employees to stack up the books in piles on the counter.

After they’d done that I took pictures of all the books I didn’t buy, which I later filed into my commonplace section “Books to read”.

The book store employees thought this was really interesting, so they started asking me questions. They’d never seen anyone come into their store doing what I did. They wanted to take pictures of me taking pictures of the books. I told them, “go ahead”, so that’s what they did.

Here are the books (perhaps you’ve read some of them? If so, tell me what you learned.)

Then the manager of the store told me about her son-in-law, who happened to be a writer of relative fame. She thought I should contact him.

And speaking of buying or selecting books (or any other products for that matter). . .

. . . After you examine some of them and decide to buy — let’s say 3 of them — you’ll start acting irrationally. You’ll be inclined towards buying stuff you don’t need, just because you’re in a good physiological state.

This is because you’ve triggered your brain’s spreading activation, which makes you think about all the things you desire and other positive things like that.

When that happens all your positive associations start firing and you become overly focused on the positive.

Because of this, I asked myself: Do I really need this book? How will it be useful for me? Can I just Google this stuff later?

. . . And similar questions to bring me back to reason, and help filter out the books I didn’t really need. Before I did that there were more books than the ones you see above.

If you’re into retailing, neuroscience, or work with in-store marketing you probably knew this already. . .

. . . And ironically enough, one of the books I bought in the store was by Paco Underhill (a retailing-pioneer).

SGM Will Keep Providing Value to Plenty of People

That email made my day, because it’s exactly what I want to do with the articles on SGM.

Here’s another one.

And a last one:

I really appreciate these emails. They let me know I’m on the right track, and that people understand what SGM is about.

That being said, let’s jump into some. . .

FAQ

Because there are certain types of questions I receive frequently via email.

I have articles in the works to respond to some of these questions, but for now I’ll just answer the most recurrent ones here.

Do you offer coaching / mentoring / Skype?

No.

Maybe I will do it in the future if I can find some scalable way of doing it.

However, I do read and answer all email I get.

If you send me an email I’ll always do my best to help you out, whether you have a question, want some advice, or just want to say hello.

I have a blog/website about [insert topic]. Can you help me out?

I often get emails from bloggers, people who make a living online, and various people who are trying to build a presence on the Internet.

And if I can, I like to help them out because:

I remember how hard and “lonely” it was when I first started out. I also know that most people quit because of the initial complexity and lack of encouragement. It’s hard in the beginning.

I’m selfishly hoping they’ll blow up, become successful, and that they will remember me later. This is known as “expanding your luck surface area” by helping as many people as you can. Here’s a guy who puts it well:

The amount of serendipity that will occur in your life, your Luck Surface Area, is directly proportional to the degree to which you do something you’re passionate about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated

–Jason Roberts

Note:

If you’re just starting out with blogging or making a presence online, I’ve written two popular (and good) articles about that.

It’s gotten picked up by Google and gives me a bit of organic traffic (randomly found by people via search engines).

What drugs do you do — if any — and what is your opinion on drugs? Do you think they’re good or bad? Do you recommend nootropics?

I only consume caffeine (pills, coffee, and tea), alcohol in moderate use, and psychedelic drugs a few times per year (for self-development purposes).

What is my opinion of drugs? I think it’s extremely individual. Different drugs suit different people — it comes down to self-experimentation.

I used to smoke a fair amount of cannabis when I was younger, and I liked it. It helped me expand my thinking and it made me feel creative. . .

. . . Then suddenly, about 3 years ago, that changed overnight. Ever since that time cannabis has just slowed me down and made me feel congested. So I quit it.

When I was reading books about neurology and brain health I would find some science indicating that most drugs are bad for the brain over a long period of time. But the problem is that most of those studies are based on hardcore addicts and extreme users.

To my knowledge there aren’t many good studies on long-term moderate users.

And if you study some of the greatest men in history (thinkers especially) you’ll find that many of them were long-term users — and some even abusers — of various drugs. Guys like Einstein, Darwin, Hemingway, Gurdjieff, Nietzsche, Sartre, etc.,

I think that if a drug dramatically boosts your productivity, and helps you achieve your goal, it may be worth taking even if it’s moderately unhealthy.

And nootropics?

I have little experience with nootropics, so I have nothing to recommend.

I think I suffer from candida, and I read you had it and successfully cured yourself, how did you do that?

I will write a detailed article on this eventually. . .

. . . For now, all you need to know is that the few most important things I did was:

Doing longer periods of fasting (this is how I invented my 2-day fast)

Drinking 5 grams of L-glutamine each morning (and skipping breakfast)

Cutting out all sugar from my diet

Minimizing all carbs except broccoli and spinach

Eating a lot of high quality coconut fat before each meal, and plenty of it with each meal

These things took my gut health from awful to awesome during a period of 6+ months.

What is your political opinion?

I have a bunch of opinions.

But I will hold off from talking or writing about them for now. Maybe I will write an article on this eventually — not on my specific political opinions or beliefs, but on my general outlook regarding politics.

The reason I’m not going to go into details or specifics is not because I’m afraid of being persecuted or anything like that. It’s for pragmatic reasons. You see. . .

. . . When you put things on paper, for example by writing an article about something, you solidify your thoughts. You increase the likelihood of committing to a course of action.

And I don’t want to do this unless I’m certain about a thing.

And I’m not certain about politics.

I consider myself far too young to form an opinion about it. The Greeks and Romans had it right by instituting barriers to entry for political life, including an age limit for participation. And this is takes me to my main point.

You see, the brain doesn’t develop fully until you’re around 30-40. And if you’re a smart person you will respect this, and do your best to remain somewhat open-minded for as long as you can.

Because once you make a definite decision about a thing your mind closes itself off and your teachability goes down.

This makes your ability to learn things taper off for a number of reasons — notably so because of confirmation bias.

Someone who understood this well was Charles Darwin. After he had already spent many years coming up with his ideas about evolution he took another another 20+ years (!) before concluding that he was correct. During those years he read and studied counterarguments to his thesis and adapted his ideas to whatever feedback or resistance he was met with.

Does this have anything do with politics?

Yes it does.

Ideological beliefs — political and religious in particular — tend to be some of the most emotionally intensive beliefs. Hence, they are the hardest to change.

This is why there are so few intelligent and accomplished fundamentalists of any sort. Because of their strongly held ideological beliefs they fail at adapting to the marketplace, which is in a constant state of flux. Their belief system blocks them from learning useful things which may prove their beliefs wrong. . .

. . . And this limits their success.

Can you show your commonplacing system and how you use it for self-development? Can you show me all your categories and how you do things?

To me self-development is the same thing as learning. And I use commonplacing to speed up my learning process. How do I do this?

–I do it based on a system I’ve created to induce deliberate repetition of the most important things I learn.

I then distill this information into best practices for different areas of my life that I’m focusing on. Then I make sure I review this quality information every once in a while to ensure it becomes part of my personality.

Reader Q&A

Below are a select few questions copied from the “reader content feedback” section of my commonplace (yes, I save this stuff).

If you have questions/suggestions I will remember it. And it may very well end up on the site someday.

Perhaps today. . .

Q:

I read about — and started — commonplacing but I have now stopped for the time being until I figure out this thing I’m about to ask you. You talk about the benefits of compartmentalizing your thoughts (you reference to Napoleon’s natural ability for doing this).

But I am in doubt because I recently read about compartmentalization on Wikipedia and (see here) I’m wondering if this might be harmful to me over the long-term because it doesn’t seem natural. It seems like an unnatural and unhealthy way of thinking. Maybe if you compartmentalize your thoughts too much you will get psychological problems or possibly alternative personalities?

For example I believe we should strive for unity of thought and not separation and that we shouldn’t divide things into categories like “good”, “bad”, “green”, “capitalism” and things like that. No, instead I think we shall try to see things as ONE whole (God) and accept things. Could you please tell me what you think?

A:

Ok. . .

. . . So Wikipedia says that compartmentalization is a way to dissolve cognitive dissonance. And cognitive dissonance is how we dissolve negative tension — through thinking — between our beliefs and the actions we take.

I think the problem here is that you are overestimating how much control you actually have.

Sure, you do have a bit of control over your conscious thinking. But you don’t have much control over the subconscious mechanisms that direct your thinking.

Such as the mechanism of cognitive dissonance.

Most of your thinking is actually directed towards the aim of reducing stress. And this isn’t something you can do away with. It’s just how the brain works.

This is not an inherently negative thing — it’s an evolutionary survival tactic.

. . . And this problem puts you off balance and stresses you out in some way. Your brain then goes to work finding a solution by compartmentalizing and organizing its thoughts to do away with the stress through some action. This is going to happen regardless of whether you want it to or not.

And one more thing: You don’t want a totally stress-free life — and try to avoid cognitive dissonance — that’s how you become a weakling (both physically and mentally).

Now, let’s talk aboutcommonplacing.

The practice of commonplacing is the most intelligent way I have found to speed up the process of compartmentalization.

Commonplacing helps you solve problems faster, gives you more ideas, and over time makes you “smarter” than normal people.

Finally, I think you’re misunderstanding another thing. Namely, the nature of thought.

When you’re talking about “seeing things as a whole”, unifying thought, and accepting what is. . . How do you think this happens?

It happens in your subconscious mind — not in your conscious mind.

Your conscious mind (thinking) is extremely inefficient, slow, and uneconomical in terms of energy — compared to your subconscious mind. The difference is staggering. The subconscious mind is thousands (possibly millions) of times faster.

Perhaps you can notice this if you’re a person who has an extremely well-developed ability for meta cognition (observing your thinking and analyzing it on multiple levels).

Summary:

I believe:

You are overestimating how much “choice” and control you have over the subconscious mechanisms that direct your thinking.

That commonplacing is in fact very healthy and that it should be done by everybody.

That the subconscious mind is what “unifies” thought and solves problems. Not the conscious — thinking — mind. And the practice of commonplacing speeds up this subconscious process immensely.

Q:

A:

Ok, so the Planning Fallacy is basically that we overestimate our ability to follow through on the plans we make. This is often results in overly ambitious to-do lists or unrealistic goal-setting.

The planning fallacy is also the reason most business projects take longer and cost more than they’re supposed to according to initial projections.

. . . Which is why you should NEVER trust blindly in business projections or financial forecasts.

The planning fallacy is a BIG problem for most people. It makes them feel guilty for not being able to do all the things they (unrealistically) set out to do.

The planning fallacy is why most people are biased towards overestimating their productivity. And I am no different — I overestimate my productivity all the time. And. . .

. . . I hate it.

However, over the past year I’ve made promising improvement.

There are 3 things I do every day to battle this bias:

In the “journal section” of my commonplace I always do time-logging. (I learned this from reading Peter Drucker books)

In the top of my journal I always post a box of “to-do items” for the next day before going to bed

I select 1-3 of the most important things to do each day and finish them before diverting my attention

If I can do that, which I often can, then I will spend that day productively.

Here’s an image of how the time-logging in my commonplace “journal section” looks like:

Notice the red lines — indicating time of the day. This helps me in two ways:

It keeps tracks my activity

It keeps me accountable

[Note: If you want to read more about the planning fallacy, check out my friend Patrik’s recent article. It’s more informative, scientific, and thorough.]

Q:

A:

I have three ethical rules for my conduct on the Internet:

Don’t get involved in arguments or feed trolls/haters.

Don’t say anything you can’t — or won’t — stand for. Even on a forum.

The golden rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

The reason I don’t use pop ups is because it really annoys me when I visit other sites that do use them. And I don’t want to annoy the people who visit SGM.

Maybe it will get me a bit higher conversions — probably.

But I’m not willing to do it if it’s in a tacky or obnoxious way.

Q:

I know what I should do, but I’m NOT doing it. And this isn’t just a one-time occurrence, it’s my daily reality. I don’t know what is wrong with me.

I KNOW I could do some great things if I just took action on my plans and ideas. But the problem is that — I don’t! To be honest with you I don’t know why. I’m just confused about it.

I guess what I’m asking here is: Do you ever feel this way, and if so, what do you do?

A:

Look. . .

. . . Everyone has that — to a varying degree.

You simply gotta deal with it.

If you don’t, it’ll cause problems — like it did for Germany and Russia when Hitler and Stalin, respectively, acted like children and shut themselves off from reality — and refused to make decisions in situations where they had to. . .

. . . In situations where millions of people depended on them.

Their failure to act resulted in many unnecessary casualties among soldiers and citizens. Why was this?

Because the German and Russian generals and ministers had to wait for the dictators to make their decisions before they could do their job. Imagine the frustration they must’ve felt. . .

Now, why am I telling you this?

You’re not in the position of leading a nation in war. And you’re not a dictator.

. . . Or are you?

I want you to do something for me.

Close your eyes, then flex your entire body as tightly as you can for 15 seconds.

Did you do that?

Good.

Now take 3 deep breaths.

Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Your stomach should be expanding, not your chest. This should take you at least 30 seconds in total.

. . .

Done?

Now then, I want you to do a thought experiment.

You’re going to rethink your identity.

Instead of seeing yourself as one singular identity — “me” or your “ego” — I want you to think differently. Dismiss your understanding of the ego as false. Because there is no “you”. Your identity is a figment of your imagination.

However, the billions and billions of cells you’re made of still exist.

Imagine that each of these cells represent a human being. A person who lives in a huge commonwealth. These people all live in a bunch of different towns. The environment differs vastly in each town.

All of these people are completely selfish. They don’t care if another person suffers or dies. They only care about their own survival, comfort, and well-being. And they all have equal voting power — one vote per citizen.

However, this commonwealth does not have a traditional political system.

Every person can vote at all times about everything they’d like. Each person carries with him an advanced voting machine which instantly sends feedback on a wide range of topics to a Mystic Ruler.

The Mystic Ruler then instantly and automatically tallies all the votes, makes a decision, and acts based on the result.

This commonwealth is — as of right now — a democracy. The Mystic Ruler acts as the state and carries out a decision based on majority voting on any given topic.

But. . .

. . . There is one rather big flaw in this system.

You see, not only are the people completely selfish — and take no regard for one another — but they are also extremely uninformed. They are like country hicks, they’ve been fixed to one location (their home town) their entire life.

They do not understand the nature of the whole commonwealth comprising billions of other citizens. They only know their own isolated town-environment.

As far as they are concerned, the only thing that exists is what they feel, see, and experience.

So — they have no context for what goes on in the commonwealth seen from a wider perspective.

As a result of this. . .

. . . The commonwealth currently has a very chaotic “democratic process”. Nothing is consistent or based on a long-term perspective. One second the majority wants to do one thing and the next they want something else. Any agreement or unity is haphazard at best.

Now, imagine if you were the Mystic Ruler.

You are the only one who has a big picture perspective of what goes on and what needs to be done to improve the overall situation for the commonwealth.

—What would you do?

Would you sit back and watch while these fools do crazy things that don’t make any sense?

Or would you assume control?

Would you take matters into your own hands and become a benevolent dictator?

After all, you are the only one who is in a position to make intelligent decisions, based on the information sent to you from each individual person’s voting machine. . .

. . . And there is no one to protest or stop you from assuming the role of dictator.

Remember: The people only have a will. But they rely on you to carry it out.

Recommended Posts

Comments

I read your blog because you have a good brain with a similar thinking style (in some key ways) to me, and I can learn well from your content.

It would be a disaster if you were to start cranking out ghastly little ‘sound-bite’ posts like almost everyone else on the internet. I can’t imagine you ever would. Keep the posts long… I agree there are some of your posts that could be better edited, but a proper treatment of a subject is necessary to get anyone with half a brain engaged about a topic, and possibly changing their mind or learning something significant.

I’d like to know more about blog authors you follow, and to see more posts about systems / ways of approaching life.

great post, and website. Really enjoy immersing myself in one or more topics, so I guess that means I prefer long posts.

On thoughts for improvement, I think for me I would be against podcasts/video for a few reasons.
1. The content you are producing is involved, and I find it much easier to understand an argument if I can easily move back to validate or review points in text form than on video
2. From a purely practical point of view, I often read blogs and content in an office (so many do) and video and audio is distracting for others.
3. Purely personal, but for me video = entertainment. I like being entertained, but I don’t think that’s your core objective with this stuff.
Kelvin

“Hitler and Stalin, respectively, acted like children and shut themselves off from reality”

Hermann Goering, who was Hitler’s second in command and was in control of the Luftwaffe, did the same thing as Hitler and Stalin. He shut himself in his castles and hunting lodges or fled to Karinhall where he looked at all the stolen European art he’d had transported by trains.

I think I need to start a time-logging/journaling system like the one you’ve displayed. I have a system that is far more vague, I’m interested by the specificity you use. Of the books in the pictures I think the only title I’d read before was George Orwell’s 1984, which isn’t an entertaining book (clunky prose, little characterisation), but an incredibly insightful one, even more so when you consider it was written in 1949, before CCTV and the internet and secret surveillance. Keep up the good work, your hunger for knowledge and learning always challenges and motivates me. And not many people are able to do this as I’m a fairly avid and obsessive learner myself.

Great post Ludvig, congrats on going strong for two years already! The rapid growth your blog is going trough is inspiring man. Amazing to see how the seeds you’ve planted in your life are leading to a better life.

Thanks for creating necessary contrast between where I am now and what I can be (or maybe I’m just projecting superhuman abilities on you haha)

Anyway, as far as content goes, I’d like to see some vlogs from you, I think the post quality is great although I would like to see more frequent posts (but absence/rarity creates value right? – So it’s up to you where you want to go)

As a product I would like to have a download link to your brain, would be great for Christmas ;) Or at least a book that comes close.

A forum would also be a good idea for brainstorming with like-minded individuals.

Just started reading Flow, thanks to you recommending it on your blog. I believe it can be applied to almost everything, and as an aspiring painter/illustrator I believe it to be extremely important! Reading Total Recall as well which I am enjoying (no surprise as Arnold is a person to look up to.. interesting read for sure). I like the fact that in all of your articles there is something you can apply to your life that very day to make improvements. It may take a while for them to stick, but it’s all here, written down in your posts. Excellent! I’m enjoying all of the posts, the short ones as well as the long ones and have no complaints whatsoever actually.

Hey this is my 1st comment on your site.
Ludvig I respect that you have the guts to openly say that you use/used psychadelic drugs, for self-development, because most people don’t dare to talk about that. Just wanted to let you know that

Totally agree with your take on politics. To me, the political arena showcases the full range of logical fallacies and cognitive biases, from the ad hominem attack via the confirmation bias to the planning fallacy. I once read a book cataloguing errors of logic, then watched a segment from a British parliamentary debate. Tragicomically, I was able to tick off at least one fallacy for every speaker, even though each MP’s input was typically only a few seconds long.

So my current view on politics is to truly keep an open mind on all issues and to only make statements about subjects that one has particular knowledge and competence of, rather than basing unqualified speculation on gut feeling and ideological pressure.

It disgusts me how many people vote and think “they’re making a difference” despite not having any idea about anything. They base their decision off of 5-10 minutes of TV watching (that’s all they need to confirm their own opinions).

Voting is merely a ritual of a civic religion. It serves exactly the same purpose as the parades favored by the Nazi regime, and (like these parades) participation has even been made mandatory in some countries.

Commonplacing has unfortunately fallen to the wayside for me. After reading this, I am further convinced that this needs to become a foundational habit. Much about this site seems to be a testament to commonplacing.

I’ve read both George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm.

I absolutely love 1984. It’s scary how easily one can draw parralels between the tactics used by the Party and how the government behaves here in the States… As you mentioned, doublethink is a very interesting concept. Almost the opposite of cognitive dissonance. 1984 was the first book that exposed me to the idea that fiction can be MUCH more than just entertaining stories, especailly greater works of literature.

Animal Farm is a great allegory for the rise of Communism, it’s violent revolution, and ultimately the corrupt institution that it ended up becoming. The fact that both of these books were forbidden in the Eastern Bloc until Communism’s end should lead some insight into how telling about their time these books really are.

I saw the film version of Lone Survivor. The story had been done up spectacularly in Hollywood fashion. Simple plot, lots of action, explosions. Definitely watered down to appeal to the masses. A bit of a betrayal to the men that lost their lives in my opinion. I have been meaning to get my hands on the book. From my understanding the book is (unsurprisingly) much more sophisticated and information dense. One of the more interesting facts about the engagement is that Marcus Luttrell (the survivor) was given safe harbor in a small Afghan village that resisted the Taliban attacks until Luttrell could be evacuated.

Be forewarned, the book might be a little farcical (“HOO RAH! ‘MURICA” ) in its American patriotism. It might be little more than thinly veiled military propaganda. I’ve not read it, so I can’t know for sure.

Woah. Didn’t realize I had so much to say about the books. Ha ha. Sorry for the lack of pith in this comment.

“It’s scary how easily one can draw parallels between the tactics used by the Party and how the government behaves here in the States…”

Indeed. Thanks to the miracle of technology, the U.S. government actually spies on its citizens more effectively than Orwell’s fictional Oceania. Our propaganda is just about as ham-fisted, too (consider e.g. the “Freedom Tower”). Forty years ago, when Americans actually had some real freedom, they would have greeted this sort of reified cartoon with derision.

Ive read your site for the past 2-3 months but haven’t commented before.

Here’s what I think:
The long posts are good because as you and someone else said they give immersion. I read a bunch of blogs but I mostly gloss over what I read. With SGM it’s different – here i ACTUALLY take action on most of the stuff i learn. So yeah, i think it’s the immersion thing, it gives me this special feeling.

I also think you should keep your overall style/theme – whatever this is. I cant put it in words.

You’re a real wealth of ‘insights’. Ive come to EXPECT learning some new thing each time I read, and Ive yet to be disappointed. I literally spend an hour or or so, on average, reading up on things you reference to that i don’t already know. Books, concepts, and such.

. . . And the fact that you’re taking action on the content makes me happy.

As far as “immersion” goes, I think it’s key to stick consistently with a few (say 1-3) quality sources of content. That way you form an emotional bond with the creator of that content. You create room for that person in your ca 150 Dunbar’s number slots.

And as a result you’ll be that much more likely to act on the advice, as you mention.

This is one of the reasons I don’t do too much online reading/perusing, but prefer books.

Very interesting about the planning fallacy, I tend to fall victim to it too with my short-term planning due to my highly optimistic view on things. Never knew there was an actual term for this though.

“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in a decade”.

In terms of what I would want to see the most in the future, I would say video blogs or even a podcast. I think they would take SGM to another level. I plan on adding some to my own blog in the near future, and have recently incorporated daily practice to build my skillset. Nothing beats video for building credibility, trust, and impact for your readers.

You’ve evolved this blog into one of the highest quality going around, keep going and you’ll be one of the very best without a doubt.

With all due respect, sir, I admire the hell out of you and the values you represent. You are certainly a thought leader and an extremely productive member of this planetary society comprised of generally isolated “cells”.

I want very much to be receiving the type of email feedback that you do. And I know it’s only a matter of time…but getting there has frustrated me quite a bit.

I believe you when you say that you’re truly here to help. As am I. It’s my greatest desire to make a difference in others’ lives. I would like to consult you regarding an overbearing hurdle in this journey.

Congrats on reaching 2nd year in SGM journey. I am happy and lucky to find your blog which is one of the inspiration to change my life for better. I am always amazed by the amount of work you put behind your each post and amount of information it contains to help myself.

Your ’23 excellent books to read’ is one of my favorite posts and I keep re-reading it. Your last post ‘Momentum machine’ is also something I could relate myself to it now since I started hating idle time of mine. I want to be occupied with some purposeful work now-a-days.

When I wanted to change myself better this year I was looking for people who could tell me that the change is possible and it is good also. Your posts are one of the constant source of inspiration for me in this process of change. They are not just an empty source of inspiration which dies off once I finish reading the posts but something which I could think over and implement those in my daily activities.

There are many things I learned from your blog. Here are few:

1. I almost stopped reading history dismissing it as something it has happened in the past and it has nothing to do with the life I live now. But your post on the history changed my belief on that and I started reading history now.

2. I have never known about the one note before. Your post introduced me to it. I was looking for something where I could log all my thoughts and learnings. Now I have installed ‘Ever note’ in my laptop and mobile. But I am yet to use them effectively. But surely your post opened a new possibility which will help me in future.

For me, the writing you are now doing is absolute quality and I don’t want you to change anything in it.

If possible and if the time permits, Once in a month, you can update on the books you are reading with short notes which will be helpful for us. Because you seem to read some interesting books on different topics. Also I think you have never shared your favorite movies/videos. You can share them in one post.

I am yet to hear your podcast. I will hear it and let you know my comments.

Hey Ludvig, Congrats on the anniversary. and 75 PSDT, it was a great read. What I’d want to read by you is a comprehensive guide on online marketing, since you’re pretty good at it and also a student.
Keep up the great work.

Personally, I’d love to see my of your posts examining great people. Nikola Tesla would be an interesting one.

Besides that, I really like your longer articles. They’re not incredibly “entertaining” at first but once I have buy-in I really can’t help reading all the way through. Always end up learning something too.

To me it sounds like you want to talk about politics, but you’re abstaining, for understandable reasons. You could instead write about something less controversial, like how educational systems should work, what would you do about the ,,9-5 jive” that most people hate, how you would approach problems in healthcare, etc. Would such topics really solidify any future course of action?

SGM Masters? Sounds awfully similar to something else…I see SGM has an exciting future ahead.

From you, I’d like to see 2 things.

Write a new book. BOOH and 75 Practical Self-Development Tips were one of the best things I’ve read.

Analyse politics from the past. Why did Country A do that, what could have Country B done better?

I’ve read very few of those books – of the titles I could make out, the only familiar ones were the Orwell novels. I don’t read much on business or marketing.

Wise position on politics – nothing is more divisive, or less productive, than talking about politics.

On “never ending self-development”: I like the fact that your range of self-development is not strictly limited to “get big muscles, get rich from your own business, fuck hot chicks”. You have a heterogenous readership with a variety of goals and opinions, all of whom can benefit from your advice.

On the “planning fallacy”: I don’t think the consequences of underestimating task difficulty are always negative. People often also underestimate the /benefits/ of novel undertakings, when they don’t really know what to expect. Sometimes it’s important to just get started, without having an accurate cost/benefit analysis.

>More posts?

Not necessarily. Posts that are well thought out are better than frequent posts.

>Longer posts?

Not really, though you could get more focused content into them without making them longer.

>Shorter posts?

Sort of. As you know, I think you could do better with fewer long discursions. Many of these are interesting but not directly relevant to the core topic and would better be saved for another post. And you’d get fewer fragmented comments from Abgrund.

>Posts on a specific subject?

Sure, but I think you should write what works for you. If you wrote about the contrast between Western analytical thought and Eastern holistic thought exemplified by Clausewitz v. Sun Tzu, I might be the only one reading it. One topic that I do think might work for you (and I would certainly find it interesting) is practical ethics.

>Podcasts/Video?

I have no interest in audio/video content. The information density and clarity of text is much superior.

>A product / service? If so, what sort?

You already provide products and services.

P.S. I hope SGM will continue with your format of intellectually engaging articles with solid, actionable content. I know some sites have been successful by moving to an “inspirational” model, but I don’t read those sites. Keep doing what you do better than anyone else. It has benefited me and apparently other people as well.

Yes, that site is the main one I was thinking of, and before I quit following it, it seemed to have focused almost entirely on the second of those three things and to have become almost purely an inspirational site with little informational content. It’s his choice, of course, and it seems to be working well for him, but that sort of thing does not interest me.

Your website is definitely one of the top three I frequent along with Bold and Determined and Danger and Play. Your articles are offer some really in-depth and helpful advice in self-improvement. One could say you are in the fastlane of self-improvement (reference to The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ de Marco, a great non guru book on financial success.)

As regards to what I’d like to see in the future of SGM, I found the studying warlords series very interesting and had me interested for more articles of such.

Podcasts would be an interesting addition to SGM, although I currently enjoy your style of in-depth analysis via articles.

“I’m selfishly hoping they’ll blow up, become successful, and that they will remember me later. This is known as “expanding your luck surface area” by helping as many people as you can.”
==> I’ve thought of this before and you’re so right. Some people might think you’re a douche for doing that but I definitely disagree. It’s a smart thing to do! And some people wonder why they can’t be as “lucky” as others… They’ve just learnt to “expand their luck surface area” as you’ve put it!

I enjoyed that music you were listening to by the way. It has such a “winner” feel to it, haha! Seems so apt to be listening to that while writing a victory post like this. Must have felt good, huh? :D

Anyway, CONGRATS for coming this far, Ludvig!!! As I’ve said before I think, you’ve built a GREAT learning resource here and an awesome community full of like-minded individuals for us all! Thanks x10 for sharing your wisdom and keep SGM soaring!

I don’t really have much feedback. I like SGM the way it is. But I do like the fact that you now publish less frequently but have more in-depth articles. Also, I’d prefer you stick to articles and not podcasts or videoblogs. My personal preference. Wait, what kind of videoblogs are you thinking of actually (if there is)? If it’s just you talking, then I rather just read your articles. Depends I guess.

Jeremy,
It did feel good. Even more so because that song belonged to a playlist sent to me by a reader with an interest in music. If he puts up some subscribe form or something, I’d be happy to link to it (if he’s reading this).

Videoblogs:
–Yeah, it would just be me talking. About the type of content you see on SGM. Perhaps a bit more motivational.

Thanks a ton for your kind words.

PS:
For some reason your gravatar image makes me think about the manga Death Note.

PPS:
Here’s another winner song (listening to it right now):
–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBN4SEQC44

Jeremy you got some epic piano skills!!
Have you thought about putting up a video playing the music from Death Note or maybe the game Chrono Trigger/Chross?
YouTube those songs if you havent herd them yet. They are the best.. my favorite is called “corridors of time”
Please if you can do that.

What do you do to make it “fun”? I would like to read more, because i definitely see the benefits of becoming well-read, but it’s just that i get bored almost immediately. I guess my mental associations are fucked up from reading school literature about stuff I dont even want to learn.

Yeah high school literature can really put off most people from reading leisurely, my advice would be to start off small. Read books with a short number of pages at first, then slowly begin to read longer books as your interest grows in reading.

What are your hobbies? Maybe there’s some autobiographies of some successful person related to your hobby that you could relate to.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to help a guy out. I’m going to read these 3 books before 2015:

Awakening the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Sixteen Laws of Success by Napolean Hill

What do you think?

Theyre all long books but I am interested in them so it should be fine, and i was thinking i should start with the tony Robbins one so i get more motivated, then I can use that extra motivation hopefully to read the other more ‘deeper’ books.

Hill before Robins any day of the week. Robbins put out good content, but it’s watered down by new-age bullshit and other like things. Read Robins if you have a knack for distilling your reading to the most essential ideas.

“Do you ever have ‘off days?’”
–Certainly. But I have a pretty rigorous routine, so I don’t have too many. The best way to not have ‘off-days’ is to have strict daily routine and stick to it consistently.

You will like my revised version of BOOH. Its main theme is exactly that — “altering brain patterns … “

That last picture of the temple looks straight out of a Shin Megami Tensei game. Where is it from?
Anyway, long time lurker here and first time poster. I’ve been following your website for quite some time and I have to say the content is nothing short of stellar.
About the books in the pictures, I have only read 1984 and while I can’t understand how some people found it underwhelming, I liked it a lot. Honestly I’m not even sure why. I guess the theme can definitely strike a chord for a person of our age. Oh and the last third is really poignant.
On another note the second question of the FAQ is exactly what I was thinking about while reading the first, it was like you were reading my mind. I checked the two links and I have to say they’re highly valuable. Now I’m even more pumped to work on my project.
Have a good day and keep up the great work!

Hey AmbitiousLad,
First off — thanks for your first comment. I like that you’re “stepping out of lurking”. The feedback means a lot to me.

The picture:
–I got it from a friend. Don’t know where it’s from. I’ve never played that video game.

On lurking:
There is said to be 3 groups of people in any movement:
1. Die-hard fans (1 %)
2. Loyal long-term fans (5 %)
3. Silent majority (94 %)

And this is very accurate when it comes to the online format.

It’s hard when you have a site / online business, because most of the people who follow it are part of the “silent majority”. They never want to actively engage — they just sit by the sidelines and watch.

Those people think they’re doing themselves a service, but they’re really not. In most cases for those people it’s merely a reflection of their overall personality — that of being a spectator.

I used to be a spectator up until I was around 18. Then I started getting involved in things, and I’ve never looked back. Ever since that time I’ve always held to the principle that:
a) I’m going to BE about it.
b) I’m NOT going to be about it.
It’s either or — but I’m not going to waste my time being in the middle.

I read the 1984 and unlike Gaston, I loved it. Maybe you need to live under totalitarian rule to feel the book? I think is beyond awesome. It’s around my top20 and I have at least 3000 titles under my belt.

I think you ramble too much, so I don’t want longer posts. I don’t want shorter too ;) I want this lenghth packed with value.

I hate videos.
I. Hate!! Them.
To learn from a video I need to sit in front of a device, put my whole attention into it, pause and note when I found something interesting.
It’s a nightmare. I don’t have time for it.

I have the same issue with audio, BUT I can listen to it in background, while driving or running errands. So I listen quite a lot of podcasts and I would happily listen to yours.

One of the biggest things I learned lately is that often we know somethings, but it takes an emotional trigger to GET THEM.

One of the things I got from corresponding with you is that you need to produce value and money AND PEOPLE will come to you willingly.

I would like to see a video blog and on the post format: maybe you could edit the post in such a way that with a push of a button you could the the longer, extended version while the default would be the shorter one.

Misel,
Yeah — that’s the formula right there. Having a site that reflects who you are is like networking on steroids — it effortlessly screens people for you. So you can expect 90% of the people who contact you to be cool people.

“I would like to see a video blog and on the post format: maybe you could edit the post in such a way that with a push of a button you could the the longer, extended version while the default would be the shorter one.”

Congratulations on the two year mark!!! That’s a huge accomplishment. I love reading your blog whenever I have the time to read the usually extremely long posts (Which I tend to have to break up into separate reading times:) Each time I read a post of yours I walk away full of insights. Keep doing great work my friend.

>Here are the books (perhaps you’ve read some of them? If so, tell me what you learned.)
I read 1984 from that list. It sucks. Don’t waste your time.

The only good thing about it is how it describes the awful world they live. I tried to relate the things said in that book to real world but I didn’t get anything interesting conclusion.
Half the book is more like a typical romantic novel for women… It sucked, but I kept reading hoping something interesting happens… Nothing happens.

Ok, I was expecting something at the level and quality of “A brave new world”, its said those books are related. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. But I asked in a forum and they agreed with me that it wasn’t good.

I read 1984 a long time ago — when I was in high school. But I was too young to grasp most of it I think. Same thing with The Prince. . . The concept of “Doublethink”, from 1984, is pretty interesting though.

It means I do the work (force enough repetitions) for the information to become part of my pattern recognition, which then leads to me doing it unconsciously. I will write more about this in a few weeks.

Whoa Ludvig – Radical image on top with the purple SGM logo. Your design skills are excellent. I wish i could do something like that.

My goal for 2015, when I have more time, is to learn some basic web design and some intermediate graphical design. I just read your article on StartupBros and downloaded Firebug. Thx for the tip, it’s freaking awesome. CSS is going to be SO much easier now!

I like the long post format better. It gives me the opportunity to immerse. I read a few other sites, and none of them give me the same immersive feeling.

However if some sort of age barrier was instituted for voting & ruling in the western world, we would fast have a gerontocracy on our hands and it may lead to a messed up economy.

For example in the US where I live there are a lot of older people and not so many younger people in comparison. The young ones are already going to “pay their dues to the elders”, AKA paying the debts of past generations overspending and indulgence in the American Lifestyle of 2 cars per house etc.

So this would just add to that and make things even more imbalanced. If the old people ruled exclusively they would set up the system so that they were supported. The young would be indentured slaves, even more so than they already are…. Rant over ;)

I think you would benefit greatly from putting video and audio up on your site. Reading is great but being able to put a moving face and a voice to the text one is reading, makes you connect more deeply with the writer. I personally will be doing video soon – mostly for egotistical purposes, practicing cadence, smiling, decreasing ticks and bad habits etc.

I would love to hear podcast as well.

In regards to the length of the posts; I’d rather see shorter and more posts.

I always wondered why Obama lost to Romney. Now I FINALLY know why. Hehe.

Ludvig,
Even though you say it would take a lot of time I would really like it if you could explain your whole commonplace practice from start to finish. I read your OneNote article, but I dont have Windows. Plus I am admittedly lazy. Too lazy to figure it out from scratch as you have.
Maybe you could do an ebook or something like that for explaining it?

Insightful comment

Great tip Ludvig! Thoughts:
1. I love your idea of alternating between creative days and implementation days. I veer more to the creative side and find I have to 'mono-focus' to get boring stuff done. I can't switch well between the two types of work in the same day.
An easy to remember summary of this principle:
Creative days – brainstorm solo, and go with the flow
All other days – exe [...]